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The Albania Tourism Investment Summit is the Official Summit for the Albanian Tourism sector, set to take place at Mak Albania Hotel in Tirana on 27th of November 2018.
This Summit will be a unique networking event in Albania, an ideal opportunity platform to discuss challenges and developments in the tourism sector, to have in-depth discussions, to meet national and international key players and experts, to exchange ideas and follow stimulating conversations around the next big trends driving the sector.

FIAA has recently conducted a Survey with its members focusing on Business Compliance.

The finalized survey is focused on the issue of Business Integrity, an important element for the business climate in the country. FIAA believes that talking and practicing good ethics, values and integrity in business is an integral part of the core values of the functional economies and necessary to fight corruption and to build transparency. The Survey’s outcomes will be presented and discussed in the coming days, in a dedicated Roundtable with the participation of business and related stakeholders in Albania.

Tirana Economic Forum is a high-level meeting of the most influential Albanian and international political, corporate, and intellectual leaders to address pressing challenges currently facing Albania and the world.

The forum will provide an opportunity to identify and assess key growth challenges, learn from policy experiences in other countries, support the adoption of corporate social innovation practices in the private sector and identify a course of policy actions towards more competitive and inclusive economies in Albania and South East Europe.

A delegation of FIAA representatives from the Mining Industry has meet with the Deputy Minister for Energy and Industry Mr. Aliko to discuss on the current situation of the mining industry. The talks were mainly focused on the recent changes presented in the New Fiscal Package for the increase of Excise Tax in bituminous coal and related articles which do fiercely affect the ongoing activity of the companies operating in this sector. Other concerns discussed with the Deputy Minister were related with the necessity to incentive Exploration activity in Albania and create new reserves of minerals. The sector representatives stressed out the need that the mining industry has for reviewing the existing legal framework and work towards a sustainable strategy which would make this industry attractive to the eyes of new investors.

Recently, the foreign business community was presented with the second package of Drafts for the Fiscal Package 2019. Being part of the Fiscal Council in the Ministry of Finances, FIAA distributed the proposed articles to its members ‘Community for opinion and feedback. Among the proposed articles which were subject to changes were related with: “Tax Procedures”;“Income Law”; “Excise Law”; “Withholding Tax”, and other articles. FIAA has officially addressed its position to the Ministry of Finances reflecting all the recommendations and opinion of its members. Most of the proposed articles were also addressed during the presentation of the Fiscal Package in the National Economic Council Meeting.

The Investment Council (IC) hold its regular meeting this time focused on “Formalization and Competitiveness in Tourism.” Chairing this Council, Minister Ahmetaj said that “Although the tourism sector has a substantial growth, its formalization remains a challenge for the country. During the last tourism season, many tax control structures were engaged, although in the focus were not penalties, but taxpayers’ education and, of course, further formalization. ”

Following, Head of the IC Secretariat, Ms Diana Leka delivered a presentation on the Secretariat’s analysis focusing on the impact of informal activities and fiscal evasion in the competitiveness of the sector. The objective of the analysis was identification of the fiscal, legal and regulatory measures, necessary to address sector’s high informality and their alignment with the general framework of policies and strategies for the development of the sector.

EIRA is a distinct publication which aims at assessing specific policy, regulatory and legal risks concerning foreign and domestic investment in the energy sector of different countries. Considering FIAA’s active role in the energy sector of the country, the Secretariat trusted FIAA to be a peer reviewer to the EIRA project, and bring attention to the challenges faced by the business and investor communities and maybe contribute to reducing the investment risk in the energy sector in the country.

The publication incorporates perspectives from all relevant sides in the country (the government, industry, investors, financial consultancy and law practitioners.

EIRA 2018 represents Energy Charter Secretariat’s efforts to assist both governments and investors in reducing the level of risk in the international energy sector and thereby unlocking investment for a sustainable energy future.

President of FIAA, Mr. Tom K. Larsen and Deputy President, Mr. Turker Sengonul developed an introductory meeting with the President and CEO of Bankers Petroleum Albania, Mr. Xingyun Sun.

Bankers Petroleum is now part of the successful Chinese Oil Company GEO -Jade, which has moved all out its HQ functions from Calgary to Fier with special focus on the only business in Albania. Mr. Sun has recently moved to Albania to lead operations of Bankers in the country which is among the most important foreign investments in Albania and one of the most outstanding members of FIAA. Mr. Sun sad that the company is expanding its investment and oil production in Patos Marinza oil field and plan to continue to heavily increase their investment next year in the oilfield. Meanwhile, he mentioned that for their business is very crucial having a stable and favorable environment in the Country. Mr. Sun stated that he will willingly commit to the FIAA’s mission along with bringing more Chinese investors in Albania.

FIAA Executives welcomed his intentions and look forward to strengthen this cooperation.

FIAA Board has been recently working on the preparation of an Actions Strategy focusing on the main objectives FIAA will carry during 2018 and further. The Board agreed working towards the following objectives:

Enhance the credibility of FIAA at the Government

Be the first point of contact for potential foreign investors

Augment the quality of the support to all

Increase number and contributions of members

Deliver progress at least in one of the “Working Groups” and in areas of specific interest to its members

In June 29th, FIAA Representatives in the Multi-Stakeholders Group at the Albanian EITI Secretariat were present in the Workshop for the presentation of a Transparency Assessment prepared by Deloitte Audit Albania in accordance with the EITI Standards requirements for the Albanian Oil Sector.

This Assessment was carried out due to the initiative of the International Secretariat in Oslo which invited Albania to be part of a Pilot Project for Commodity Trading.

The oil sector has historically been one of the strategic importance sectors and an important contributor to the country’s economic development with considerable reserves. The EITI requirement seeks to provide the necessary transparency, on how much State-Owned Companies in EITI countries benefit from volumes sold and revenues received from oil, gas and minerals and how much these revenues are transferred to the state budget.

In this sector, Albpetrol sh.a. is the only joint stock company with 100% of shares owned by the Albanian state. The main role of the company is the production and trading of petroleum products and the monitoring of Petroleum Agreements.

The main purpose of this Report is to Review and identify the transparency gaps in the crude oil trading value chain, in consultation with the Albanian EITI, the MSG and the responsible government institutions; Ensure the capacity building of MSG and Albania EITI for transparency in the trading of crude oil; Produce a Final Report on Crude Oil Trading that addresses identified gaps and relevant recommendations.

This Report analyzes the new EITI International requirements for transparency in the oil and gas trading process from producing countries, by verifying the viability of EITI 26 Guidelines for the first Sales.

FIAA IN A FEW WORDS

The Foreign Investors Association is the most important business association in Albania, operating mainly as a supporter and facilitator of foreign investors in the country. The organization operates through a membership scheme and offers various business services to foreign investors. FIAA represents the largest and most prominent businesses operating in various sectors of Albanian economy with the main aim to cooperate with the government and other institutions for a better investment climate and favorable socializing atmosphere in order to attract more foreign investors in Albania.

NEWSLETTER

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